Building Hoppy and Giddy-up

Going to Build a Bear for thier birthday was thier gift from mom & dad. Hannah wanted to get the bunny at Build a Bear for over three months. She got her and dressed her and put the frosty the snowman song in her. She named her new bunny Hoppy.It is so cute. Megan decided that since she was unable to find a giraffe, a horse would do. She named her Giddy Up and put a neh neh inside of her so she could talk. They each picked out their outfits and already loved their new friends. They had a great time although the store was a bit overwhelming, even for the adults. Happy 5th Birthday Hannah & Megan

Hannah & Megan turn 5

I can't believe that my little angels are 5 already. They have really grown up so much in the last year and although they have been a challenge to deal with on some days, they are beautiful smart caring little people. We had a family get together on their actual birthday and played hopscotch twister and musical chairs. They opened a ton of presents and had a wonderful day. They each got to pick their own cake this year, it reflects their unique personalities. The day after we took them to build a bear to make their own friend, what a joy and overwhelming time that was! They had us take them to lunch, which is their favorite past time.

Snow Snow Snow

It was fun playing in the snow on Christmas Day. :)

Merry White Christmas

Today we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. WOW Austin decided that he would wait up all night for santa and was running on empty all day. It was funny to watch him space out and MAKE himself keep going. He enjoyed his Buck Hunter game( a plug in play) and so did all the big kids too, there was some lessons on sharing even. He made it to 7 oclock before he passed out. What a great holiday, we have our friends James & Jennifer visiting and the kids had a blast both with thier new toys and the snow outside. It was so cold. I am so grateful for all the things that the kids got this year, and especially that they were very gracious and posed for all the pictures with the items that our family sent them without any complaints. We had a wonderful dinner and now we are trying to recover. We have a million bags of trash and it took almost the whole day to organize the kids stuff, but we have to get it done as in one day we will have the girls birthday and have to do it all over again. I am hoping that everyone elses holiday was filled with happiness, love so much fun you pass out exhausted.

I can't believe that this year is over in a week.

Austin's holiday party at school

Austin's new school is pretty cool. They celebrate the holidays by having a party. There are designated party days throughout the year for fall, Christmas and valentines & end of the year parties. I have been lucky enough to be able to attend them so far this year. We will see how it works out with the new job, but here are a few pictures of Austin & his class at his party. Hannah & Megan are also able to attend and they are so excited to be able to go into Austin's class and his classmates enjoy them too. Its so cute, they ask Austin, can we sit next to your sister? He gives them his permission. I can't wait to see what next year will bring when they are all in the same school.

Fishing

Fishing Fishing Fishing. Every time that James comes to visit, Austin has to go fishing. Shocking enough, he enjoys it and can sit there and wait for a good amount of time before getting antzy. Jason on the other hand, doesn't like to wait! SO today while we were getting the girls pictures done, the boys were off fishing and catching dinner. Then they went off to play mini golf. Good times. Our friends, James & Jennifer are visiting us for the holiday. They drove down from Chicago to get away from the snow. I am secretly hoping that we have a white Christmas while they are here. They think that its warm here! Thats so funny because I am still freezing my booty off. They alslo brought Austin a harmonica. Thanks...

Picture Day

Today Jennifer and I took Hannah and Megan to get their 5 year photos done at Picture People. They did so good. It was really hard to pick a few pictures to display when they were all so cute. I narrowed it down, but was very sad to leave those other adorable photos there. I didn't have enough money to get them all, but I wish that I did. I haven't had the girls pictures done in about 3 years from a picture place. It was really worth it this time. Then we took the girls to lunch as I had to bribe them with being good in order to gain "smiles" from them. Ha, by the time we left Hannah was already in full pout mode. That bribe lasted about 40 minutes! lol

I am excited to try to get a good picture of all 3 of the kids sometime next year, maybe even a family photo. We tried to do one for the holidays and it was not wall worthy.:(

Holidays

Its Christmas week! I can NOT believe that the end of the year is here, the girls are turning 5 already and its christmas in four days. CRAZY

Things have been cold here and busy. I am getting ready to go back to work & we are enjoying hanging out unitl then. Jason ( AKA scrooge) did an excellent job decorating the house for the holidays and the kids love to turn on the lights every night. I still love our white christmas tree and after much "discussing" Jason and I finally found a place for it in the living room. Heres some pictures of cookie making and lights and fun holiday times. More to come:)